Back to the future for Poland

The Polish Football Federation (Polski Związek Piłki Nożnej or PZPN) was founded at a meeting in Warsaw on 20 and 21 December 1919, some 12 months after the country regained independence following World War One.

The PZPN, Poland's oldest and largest sporting organisation, had Edward Cetnarowski as its first president with headquarters in Krakow. The game grew fast: KS Cracovia were crowned Poland's maiden champions in 1921, and on 18 December of the same year the national team made their debut, losing 1-0 to Hungary in Budapest.

After the PZPN obtained FIFA membership in 1923, a national side competed at the next year's Paris Olympics. Another historic landmark was the first final of the Puchar Polski, or Polish Cup, which Wisla Kraków won 2-1 against LKS Sparta Lwów. Meanwhile, a new top flight, the Ekstraklasa, was established in 1927, launched with a Warsaw derby between Legia Warszawa and KS Warszawianka. Although Wisla Kraków were the first champions, KS Ruch Chorzów became the dominant force, lifting five Polish Cups.

The national team made an impression in the 1930s. The Bialo-czerwoni (Red and Whites) took fourth spot at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, before reaching the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup in France two years later. Here they lost 6-5 to Brazil after extra time; Ernest Wilimowski, then Poland's best player, scored four goals.

The PZPN returned to business after World War Two from Warsaw. KSP Polonia Warszawa were the first post-war champions. However, the 1950s and 1960s were lean years despite the talents of Gerard Cieślik, Ernest Pol, Edward Szymkowiak and Lucjan Brychczy. It was striker Cieślik who netted twice when Poland defeated the USSR 2-1 in Chorzów in a World Cup qualifier in 1957. Górnik Zabrze held sway domestically with six league titles in the 1960s. Their participation in the 1970 European Cup Winners' Cup final against Manchester City FC – lost 2-1 in Vienna – combined with Legia Warszawa's run to the European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals that season, heralded better days for Polish football.

Led by Kazimierz Górski, the national team started to sparkle. A gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics was followed by silver in Montreal four years later; sandwiched in between was a third-place finish at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany. Kazimierz Denya, Włodzmierz Lubański, Jan Tomaszewski, Grzegorz Lato, Robert Gadocha, Henryk Kasperczak, Andrzej Szarmach, Jerzy Gorgoń and Władysław Żmuda were key men.

In that context, Poland's fifth place at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, under coach Jacek Gmoch, represented a failure. However, tragedy struck the PZPN later that year when its president Edward Sznajder died in a car crash.

The national team bounced back at the next World Cup in Spain in 1982, with Antoni Piechniczek as coach and Zbigniew Boniek – later voted Poland's greatest-ever footballer – as captain. They finished third after overcoming France 3-2 in a play-off. Nonetheless, the next World Cup in Mexico signalled a downturn. Eliminated by Brazil, the side would fail to qualify for a World Cup or UEFA European Championship until the new millennium. A silver medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics under Janusz Wójcik was small consolation.

Youth football brought redemption. Poland won the UEFA European Under-16 Championship (now a U17 event) in 1993, were runners-up in the same competition six years later, and also collected the U18 title in 2001, indicating a promising future. The women’s game also brought success – the WU17 team raced to the European title in 2013.

A return to the men’s elite stage came at the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan under Jerzy Engel. Paweł Janas was then in charge of the team that qualified for the 2006 tournament in Germany, where again they fell in the group phase. Subsequently it was a Dutchman, Leo Beenhakker, who oversaw Poland's first-ever qualification for a UEFA European Championship final tournament, in Austria and Switzerland in 2008.

Four years later, Poland were present at another EURO – as co-hosts in tandem with neighbouring Ukraine. Unfortunately for them, they were not able to qualify from the group stage of an extremely successful event. Star striker Robert Lewandowski scored the EURO 2012 finals opener against Greece at Warsaw’s National Stadium, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw. Poland then shared the points again with Russia (1-1), and lost against Czech Republic (0-1) to go out of the competition.

The next major tournament reached by Poland came when the team coached by Adam Nawałka qualified for the UEFA EURO 2016 finals in France where, for the first time in their history, the Poles managed to qualify from a EURO group stage, before losing on penalties to eventual title-winners Portugal in the quarter-finals.

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